Dumbo on Broadway?

[Margos]

I could have sworn I heard a rumor a very long time ago that NBC was being considered as a possible future Broadway production. I can't verify it, and I think it was just from some random person, so I don't think it came from an at all reliable source.

But it certainly would be great. It would be very interesting to see how the costumes would be designed.....

[Sotiris]

Do the Dumbo and Newsies broadway projects mean that the once proposed "Peter and the Starcatchers", "The Man in the Ceiling", and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" will be shelved? What is the current status of those 3?

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... y+broadway

[UmbrellaFish]

To be honest, I'm surprised Walt Disney never turned his films into Broadway shows. He obviously was a fan of theatre (having offered Julie Andrews the part of Mary Poppins when he went to see Camelot), so I wondered whether it was a thought that crossed his mind. He had already conquered film, television and amusement parks. Surely, the stage would have been the next step.

The reason he went to see Camelot was to compare it to his Sword in the Stone, both of which are based on TH White's The Once and Future King. And I've never heard any stories of Walt seeing plays, although he may very well have, but I doubt Walt was a hardcore fan of the theatre, and I really don't imagine him wanting to create plays. I think it would have been too "artsy" for him. Heck, he refered to his own animated motion pictures as "cartoons". I just don't imagine Walt settling very well in the theatre crowd.

[disneyboy20022]

I could have sworn I heard a rumor a very long time ago that NBC was being considered as a possible future Broadway production. I can't verify it, and I think it was just from some random person, so I don't think it came from an at all reliable source.

But it certainly would be great. It would be very interesting to see how the costumes would be designed.....

When you said NBC....I for a moment thought you were refering to a movie that should be made..The Late Shift 2 or a musical of recent events on NBC...starring Keith Olbermann and Matt Lauer and Jay Leno

But now i qucikly realized what you meant and I started lol at myself...

it's really TNBC not NBC get it right...or I'll call Jay Leno

[Margos]

I could have sworn I heard a rumor a very long time ago that NBC was being considered as a possible future Broadway production. I can't verify it, and I think it was just from some random person, so I don't think it came from an at all reliable source.

But it certainly would be great. It would be very interesting to see how the costumes would be designed.....

When you said NBC....I for a moment thought you were refering to a movie that should be made..The Late Shift 2 or a musical of recent events on NBC...starring Keith Olbermann and Matt Lauer and Jay Leno

But now i qucikly realized what you meant and I started lol at myself...

it's really TNBC not NBC get it right...or I'll call Jay Leno

Sorry for the confusion, guess I just dropped the T.... Sure, the word "the" in the title isn't all that essential, but I should have known that "NBC" is generally known as something else!

[Disney Duster]

I think it would have been too "artsy" for him. Heck, he refered to his own animated motion pictures as "cartoons".

What about Fantasia or Sleeping Beauty? Theater does not always equal artiness. Many schools just put on plays without thinking very artistically, and not every person or theater gets artsy with plays. It is Walt who got artsy with cartoons!

[UmbrellaFish]

I think it would have been too "artsy" for him. Heck, he refered to his own animated motion pictures as "cartoons".

What about Fantasia or Sleeping Beauty? Theater does not always equal artiness. Many schools just put on plays without thinking very artistically, and not every person or theater gets artsy with plays. It is Walt who got artsy with cartoons!

I think those are the exceptions to the rule. And notice neither of them were particularly successful for Walt when he released them.

Going further, another reason I don't think Walt would have like theatre is the lack of control he'd have. The film is always the same in whatever theatre (well, give or take a proojector problems and whatnot that the general public wouldn't notice), but a play changes every night, depending on the actors, the crew, malfunctions of any sort, and so on.

Also, I once heard Walt said that the reason he made animated films is because you simply couldn't do the same things in live action as you could in animation, at least in his time. Why go to the theatre when it's even more limited? I just doubt Walt would think a stage of the time could adequately hold the contents of his imagination like a film could. I think for the type of stories he told, going to the medium of the theatre would have been a step back for him, assuming he'd try to produce plays equivalent to the type of films he made.

[tlc38tlc38]

I don't think this has been mentioned before, if it has please ignore this post:

Dumbo is coming to broadway, but not anytime soon...

http://www.broadway.tv/blog/broadway-ne ... -broadway/

[skyler888]

ugh why dumbo

[PatrickvD]

I remember there being a topic on this.

This is hands down the worst Broadway idea ever. Not since Love Never Dies... well you'll get it. This idea smells. Awful.

[tlc38tlc38]

I remember there being a topic on this.

This is hands down the worst Broadway idea ever. Not since Love Never Dies... well you'll get it. This idea smells. Awful.

I agree, this is a horrible idea. I'm a HUGE fan of the movie (it being my #2 favorite DAC, The Little Mermaid being #1) but I can't see this working on broadway at all.

[disneyboy20022]

[WonderlandFever]

simply outrageous!

[TheValentineBros]

Geez, next thing you'll know, they'll have a Snow White play on Broadway.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Geez, next thing you'll know, they'll have a Snow White play on Broadway.

I don't think the world should be succumbed to watching Shrill: The Musical

[DisneyJedi]

Geez, next thing you'll know, they'll have a Snow White play on Broadway.

Well, that wouldn't be TOO bad of an idea, really. I mean, it pretty much IS a movie musical.

[SpringHeelJack]

Geez, next thing you'll know, they'll have a Snow White play on Broadway.

"Snow White" already had a stage musical version play at Radio City Music Hall in the 80s. It's hardly the least suited for stage.

[Wonderlicious]

"Snow White" already had a stage musical version play at Radio City Music Hall in the 80s. It's hardly the least suited for stage.

And let's also not forget all the pantomime versions of Snow White that take place in Britain, many of them using the Disney songs (although admittedly not being direct adaptations of the Disney film).

As for Dumbo as a Broadway show...no thanks. After the whole Little Mermaid and Tarzan fiascos on Broadway, I thought that Disney shouldn't be as aggressive on Broadway and should not turn any popular film into a stage show. Of all the shows in development, I think that only The Hunchback of Notre Dame comes across as really fitting, mainly due to there having been a production shown in Berlin a few years ago. Dumbo, however, has the following issues to tackle:

- Even at a slight 64 minutes, would have really outstayed its welcome had it been even just five or six minutes longer.

- The main character is not only an elephant, but a mute one at that. Granted, this could be changed, but what really made the story work was that Dumbo was still a baby and was unable to talk, thus making his vulnerability and passive nature easy to stomach, and not bringing up the subject "couldn't he just retaliate?".

- The story deals with size differences (elephants and humans, elephants and mice).

- Now, I love the original film, but there's no denying that there are a good deal of outdated aspects concerning race. Yet these elements are so married into the original and people's memories of it, that it would be controversial to excise them; "Song of the Roustabouts" is cringe-making (actual lyric: "Grab that rope you hairy ape!" ), and the film's best song "When I See an Elephant Fly" is performed by a bunch of crows considered by many to be racist caricatures. The easy route would be to excise these two songs, resulting in more songs to write, or to edit them down so much that it would garner criticism from the cynics.

- The original score is so classic that trying to expand it is no easy task, and could disappoint many fans. I personally didn't care for many of the new songs in Mary Poppins (yes, I'm in the minority, it seems), so that's why I raise this point.

I could go on, but I'll refrain. You should all see me at opening night, but whether I see you all is another matter; I'll be facepalming so much that I won't be able to see anyone, anybody or anything.

[TheValentineBros]

Geez, next thing you'll know, they'll have a Snow White play on Broadway.

"Snow White" already had a stage musical version play at Radio City Music Hall in the 80s. It's hardly the least suited for stage.

Ah. I see.

[Tristy]

What I am more interested in seeing are:

That Julie Taymor Pinocchio that was supposed to happen
a ballet that combines both Fantasias
and...oh yeah...A US version of Hunchback of Notre Dame would be nice.